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Our session today was very rich. Much of our agenda today was based upon the visual arts, but we were delightfully surprised to see that in fact our musical expectations were more than fulfilled.

Visual arts

Collaborating with the children and their parents, we made a mural for the center out of colored tape. The children were very talented and found great joy in making art.

The seekers, adult and children alike, also drew very prolifically with the markers and paper that we provided.

We also created a large artwork that resembled a fishing net. This was somewhat of a painstaking process because we had to hand tie the net. Luckily the seekers were eager to help. Our inability to create a uniformly patterned and symmetrical net resulted in a beautiful piece of artwork. We are set for tomorrow to hang various artworks on this net, such as works made of colored string and various fabrics.

Music

We were grateful to find two very talented musicians. One was a singer from Syria named Muhammad, and the other a drummer named Fahed from Iraq. (Fahed can also do a headstand!)

They performed a quite a few songs during our break time. They had a fairly simple setup (they both sat on stools and the drummer beat a table surface) yet their chemistry and sheer talent left us thrilled to work with them. What seemed like an impossible project at that moment turned into an indubitably brilliant musical program.

Muhammad is currently raising a baby boy. His wife died on the way or before the journey to Finland. He still takes much joy in caring for his child and in singing his native music.

We could only communicate with the asylum seekers because a woman from Yemen named Wafa knew Arabic and English. The day was much smoother thanks to her intelligence and kind heart.